Reid Used Campaign Funds to Buy Jewelery from Granddaughter for Donors, Koch Bros to Blame

“Harry Reid is in a class by himself. One of his sons and his son-in-law lobby in Washington for companies, trade groups and municipalities seeking Reid’s help in the Senate. A second son has lobbied in Nevada for some of those same interests, and a third has represented a couple of them as a litigator.

In the last four years alone, their firms have collected more than $2 million in lobbying fees from special interests that were represented by the kids and helped by the senator in Washington. Apparently such activities are not illegal. They should be. Harry Reid has four sons who all work for Nevada’s largest law firm, Lionel, Sawyer & Collins. All of them have benefited by Reid.”

The Federal Election Commission has sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s campaign, asking for more information on why he listed an expenditure of more than $16,000 in “holiday gifts.”

The gifts, I have learned, were purchased from his granddaughter, Ryan Elisabeth Reid, who is a jewelry vendor in Berkeley, CA. The gifts were later passed on to donors and supporters, a Reid spokeswoman told me.

Reid has previously been asked to explain holiday gifts to his Ritz Carlton doorman by the FEC. But in the letter from the FEC sent last week, the agency wants to know what payments of $11,370 and $5,416 were.

Reid has now promised to pay back the $16K. But I wonder how many of these things you have to buy to spend $16K and just who determined what market value was for Reid’s collage lockets?

Daniel Greenfield, a Shillman Journalism Fellow at the Freedom Center, is a New York writer focusing on radical Islam. He is completing a book on the international challenges America faces in the 21st century.